Lilly was born in the city of Swindon in the United Kingdom, but before long returned to her father’s home state of Western Australia and now thinks of Perth as her ‘home town’. Lilly completed a BSc (Hons) at the University of Western Australia in 2013, majoring in geology. Her studies were punctuated by summers spent on various mining and exploration projects, particularly in the Eastern Goldfields. It was while in this region that Lilly developed an interest in the rare metal pegmatites that are common in the granite-greenstone terranes of Western Australia. Her MSc research projectaimed to better understand the timing and origin of these highly differentiated intrusions, including the high Ta and Li yield pegmatites Wodgina and Greenbushes. Following the completion of this project in 2015, Lilly spent some time working with Anglogold Ashanti’s Global Exploration team and completed a research internship at the CSRIO, before commencing a PhD in July 2016.

Lilly’s current research project focusses on the behaviour of volatile species (eg. Cl, F, OH, S) in magmas which generate magmatic-hydrothermal mineralising systems. The study will employ the powerful trace element and isotope records of accessory apatite and zircon to track changes in the relative abundances of volatile species in response to changes in melt conditions, from source material through to the release of volatile-rich metal bearing magmatic fluids. The project will be supervised by Dr. Tony Kemp and Prof. Steffen Hagemann within the CET and externally supervised by Prof. Chris Hawkesworth at the University of Bristol, where Lilly will spend a year of her studies accessing analytical equipment.

In her downtime Lilly enjoys a few less scientific pursuits including quiet time with a book, singing with the Perth Undergraduate Choral Society and travelling to places off the beaten track. As one of the few (almost) authentic Perth locals in the CET, Lilly now enjoys showing off her city and state to any newcomers who care to listen.